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COAST WEEKEND • INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2019
146TH YEAR, NO. 236
$1.50
Port Commission moves toward fi ring Knight
Majority sours on director
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The Port of Astoria Commission could fi re
Jim Knight, the agency’s embattled executive
director, after a majority lost confi dence in
his leadership.
After a private executive session Tues-
day afternoon, each commissioner pub-
licly shared their opinion of Knight in front
of a packed room. Frank Spence, the com-
mission’s president, and Commissioner Bill
Hunsinger and Commissioner Dirk
of Astoria,” Rohne said. “While Jim
Rohne voiced support for removing
Knight may not have caused all the
Knight.
Port’s problems, he is certainly not
Commissioner Robert Stevens
the Port director who can move it
called the move rushed and possibly
forward.”
corrupt, while Commissioner James
Knight hired Kyle Busse, an
Campbell said the public had only
employment attorney, who advised
Jim Knight
heard one side of the story about the
Port attorney Eileen Eakins over the
director’s performance.
phone that he and Knight would pre-
“From the local fi nancial advisory com- fer to not respond off the cuff at the meeting.
mittee to the outside consultant who pre-
Knight, who could not be reached for com-
pared the Port of Astoria’s strategic plan, we ment, will likely respond at the Port Commis-
have an abundance of evidence of the fail- sion’s next regular meeting on June 18 .
ures of Jim Knight to effectively lead the Port
The special session follows a 3-2 vote
Closing gaps on Oregon Coast Trail
earlier this month to anonymously survey
employees about their experience at the Port.
Rohne called for the survey based on the rec-
ommendation from an ad-hoc committee of
fi nancial and economic development profes-
sionals, he said.
The call for a survey also came shortly
after the release of comments by Matt
McGrath, the Port’s former director of opera-
tions who resigned in April, detailing Knight
as incompetent, dishonest and incapable of
running the agency.
See Port, Page A6
Seaside
takes lead
in plastic
bag ban
First city in the
county to take action
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
Better connections
for area hikers
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
W
ork is underway on the
North Coast to close two
gaps on the Oregon Coast
Trail.
The gaps — where a landslide at
Ecola State Park near Cannon Beach
cut a trail in half and a spot outside
Oswald West State Park near Manza-
nita where hikers must walk the high-
way between segments — have taken
years to address. They are two of the
fi rst signifi cant breaks hikers com-
ing from the north encounter on the
nearly 400-mile t rail.
State trail planners estimate over
20 gaps exist on the route, rang-
ing from natural hazards like bay
and river crossings to interruptions
caused by private lands and public
Photos by Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian
ABOVE: A state Department of
Corrections crew works to clear brush
along a new trail route at Ecola State
Park, where a landslide cut off access.
BELOW: A new trail in the works across
private land will connect the south
Neahkahnie Trailhead to Manzanita,
closing a gap on the Oregon Coast Trail.
gaps opening and closing,” said
Robin Wilcox, senior park and trails
planner for the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department.
In 2017, state legislators directed
the department to close previously
identifi ed gaps on the trail. Last
year, Gov. Kate Brown prioritized
the development of an action plan to
address safety and connectivity issues
and suggest fi xes to the gaps.
Across the route, fi xes are under-
way and trail maintenance will occur
along certain sections this summer.
A big step
roads. Some are more recent develop-
ments, like the landslide at Ecola.
“The coast is a really dynamic
environment and there’s always new
The work that will close a gap
between the popular south Neah-
kahnie trailhead down to Manzanita
and the next section of the Oregon
Coast Trail is a big step for the local
community. Hikers have had to bridge
this break by walking U.S. Highway
101’s narrow and sometimes almost
nonexistent shoulder.
See Trail, Page A5
SEASIDE — The City Council took
the fi rst step Monday night to a single-use
plastic bag ban .
Residents from throughout the region
— from Long Beach, Washington, to
Arch Cape — came to support a ban.
And by night’s end, the
crowd, including three
fi fth-graders from John
MORE
Meyer’s Heights Ele-
INSIDE
mentary School class,
Single-use
erupted in applause
bag ban
after a unanimous vote .
passes in
The new o rdinance
Salem
would prohibit plastic
carry-out bags, simi-
Page A2
lar to state legislation
approved in Salem on
Tuesday.
Retailers may charge customers a rea-
sonable pass-through cost — no less than
10 cents a bag — for a recyclable paper
bag or reusable bag . The penalty for vio-
lating the ordinance would be a fi ne of up
to $100 .
Fifth-graders Mariliz Leon-Mejia,
Madeleine Menke and Theia McCarthy
recommended that consumers embrace
reusable bags .
“Plastic bags are not very good for the
environment,” the students said. “And
neither are straws. We need to take a
break from plastic bags. And that break
starts now. ... If we stop using plastic
bags, we will make the environment bet-
ter for all of us.”
See Ban, Page A6
Cap-and-trade
bill clears hurdle
Johnson removed for
committee vote
Recovery allies speak the language of addiction
Mentors do outreach
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Astorian
Trista Boudon will mark
three years sober on June 19.
For recovering alcoholics
and drug addicts, sobriety dates
carry weight, like a birthday or a
wedding anniversary.
But Boudon does not carry
hers alone. The 30-year-old
mother of two uses the tools
she learned to stay sober to
help others as a recovery ally,
an outreach program at Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare.
Boudon and Rose Ander-
son, 44, a recovering alcoholic,
reach out to people whose drink-
ing and drug abuse has left them
homeless, in and out of hospital
emergency rooms or locked up
in the county jail.
“We don’t give up. If you’re
still breathing, there is an oppor-
tunity there to do something dif-
ferent,” Boudon said.
“I love the phrase, ‘Are you
tired?’
“Are you tired? Because, you
know, there is a different way to
do this.”
They help people make the
diffi cult call to a detox cen-
ter. They might go with them
to their fi rst Alcoholics Anon-
ymous meeting. They fi nd safe
See Mentors, Page A5
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Trista Boudon, left, and Rose Anderson are recovery allies for Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare. Among their stops is the lunch for the homeless
at Peoples Park by Filling Empty Bellies.
By AUBREY WIEBER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Democrats appear to have
the support to move forward on a mas-
sive environmental plan to price carbon
after a week of turmoil and uncertainty.
House Bill 2020, which would imple-
ment a cap-and-trade program, passed
out of the Joint Committee on Ways and
Means on Wednesday. It now goes to
the House fl oor for a vote scheduled for
Monday. It’s the most signifi cant piece
of legislation still in the works with the
session ending in two weeks.
The legislation — and the 116th
amendment proposed on it — passed
out of committee on a 13-8 party-line
vote. State Senate President Peter Court-
ney temporarily sat in on the commit-
tee for Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scap-
poose, the committee’s co-chair, who
has been a vocal opponent of the bill and
has warned it would destroy the state’s
economy.
See Cap and trade, Page A3